Japan voters back Abe's efforts to spur growth, beat deflation

Abe took office last month after his conservative Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) landslide election victory on Dec. 16, promising to revive the world's third-biggest economy with bold monetary easing and big spending by the debt-laden government.

Support for Abe's cabinet stood at 68 percent, the Yomiuri newspaper's latest survey showed, up from 65 percent in a previous poll taken shortly after he took office.

The survey was taken over the weekend after Abe's cabinet approved on Friday US$117 billion spending to stimulate growth, bringing a total stimulus package to 20.2 trillion yen (US$226.76 billion) including spending by local governments and private-sector firms.

Sixty-six percent of those surveyed supported Abe's policy of boosting coordination with the Bank of Japan and placing more emphasis on economic growth.

But people were split over Abe's energy policy, with 44 percent in favor of a plan to restart off-line nuclear reactors that are confirmed safe and 46 percent opposed, according to the poll.

Nuclear energy has been a particularly emotive issue since the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear energy plant triggered by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011.

The poll also found showed that 37 percent of respondents would vote for the LDP in the proportional representation stage of an upper house election expected in July, compared with 16 percent for the Japan Restoration Party and 8 percent for the Democratic Party of Japan.

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